Agriculture

I received this latest update on our tobacco crop this year and I thought it was interesting and I wanted to share it with everyone.

Obviously, 2007 was not a typical tobacco production year for any area of Kentucky. According to the Kentucky Farm Business Management (KFBM) program records for 2007, wide variation existed across the state. Post buy-out Kentucky has also seen considerable shifts in tobacco production. Some areas have seen sharp acreage declines, while other areas, especially western Kentucky, have experienced increases in tobacco acreage.

As I mentioned in last week’s 4-H news, each county 4-H program in Kentucky has the honor of submitting a name of a former 4-Her or 4-H leader that had a tremendous impact on the local program to be recognized in the Kentucky 4-H Hall of Fame as part of the Kentucky 4-H Centennial that takes place in 2009. Since the information was requested on such short notice, there was only one week to ask the public for nominations and now we are asking for you to review the names for voting. The deadline for anyone wishing to place a vote will be Tuesday, Dec. 9.

In recent weeks, nitrogen prices have taken a downturn, but what the future holds for input costs remains uncertain, said Lloyd Murdock, soils specialist with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture.

“Typically, when prices start to go down, they begin to drop in one area first, and then the others follow. So it’s going to be a significantly different situation for producers in the coming months,” he said.

The recent discovery of Curly Calf Syndrome in the Angus cattle breed has some producers feeling uncertain about the future of the breed, but University of Kentucky Extension Beef Specialist Darrh Bullock says there’s no reason for Kentucky’s beef producers to panic. He believes the best course of action is to stay informed.

Curly Calf Syndrome is a genetic defect, which researchers believe is caused by a simple recessive gene. It can cause calves to be stillborn with twisted spines. Early research information traces the syndrome back to a popular Angus bull.

New federal legislation now allows farmers and landowners of farms with 10 or fewer base acres the opportunity to receive payments for the 2008 Direct and Counter-Cyclical Payment Program (DCP). On Oct. 13, 2008, President George W. Bush signed a bill that made amendments to the 2008 Farm Bill.

Originally, the 2008 Farm Bill prohibited DCP payments on farms with 10 acres of base or less, unless the farm is wholly owned by a socially disadvantaged farmer or limited resource farmers. The 2008 enrollment period for the DCP on farms with greater than 10 base acres ended Sept. 30.

One of the mainstays of 4-H over the past 100 years is the teaching of life skills through project work. Each year 4-H members have the opportunity to complete a project which can range from a woodworking, electric, foods and sewing to various livestock projects and shooting sports. Washington County members who completed a project this year have the opportunity to go on the annual awards trip which this year will be on Saturday, Nov. 22 to Louisville Glassworks and the Spaghetti Factory. Registration is due by Thursday, Nov. 20, noon and the cost is $6 plus lunch.

Supplemental Revenue Assistant Payments (SURE) provides benefits for farm revenue losses due to natural disaster. It is the 2008 Farm Bill’s successor to the prior Ad Hoc Crop Disaster Programs, also known as the CDP or Crop Disaster Programs. Unlike the prior USDA Programs, SURE is legislated through 2011.

SURE payments are available to producers on farms that:

• are located in a county covered by a qualifying natural disaster declaration (USDA Secretarial Declarations only) or a contiguous county or